


Burglary Bungle

by c0cunt



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Burglary, M/M, broke college kid marco
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-09
Updated: 2016-09-09
Packaged: 2018-08-14 01:40:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7993945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/c0cunt/pseuds/c0cunt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Marco was pretty sure he was doing marginally okay, for a student living on his own in a cheap neighborhood.  He had a job, he could afford food most days, and his door actually locks...Well, the last thing might not be true.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Burglary Bungle

**Author's Note:**

> -shrug-  
> idk man, i saw something on Tumblr and just....words

     Marco was almost looking forward to going back to his apartment, as tiny and unfurnished as it was, three months since college began.  As much as he loved his parents, he didn’t want to be mooching off of them any longer, and had moved into the tiny apartment with the money he had saved up from working part time throughout high school.  So, that meant...Well, a lot of things.  He barely scraped by, paying what he could, and well...He could do without most things.  It wasn’t impossible, even if it did suck.

      He had a few blankets that he’d taken from home, a milk crate from work that doubled as a chair and a table, a few dishes...But that was about it.  The cabinets in his tiny kitchen were empty aside from the dishes (two plates and two bowls), and the same went for the drawers (two forks, two spoons, and two butter knives).  He had a roll of aluminum foil, to heat up leftovers he brought from work in the oven, and a garbage pail too.  All that was in his fridge, was a mostly empty bottle of sriracha, and half a lime.  Most nights, Marco wanted to go back to his parents’ house, and whimper that he didn’t have what it takes to survive in the world on his own, as his belly rumbled and whined at him from wanting more food.  

      But, today had been a windfall:  The customers at the diner he worked at now had been generous with their tipping, and the elderly woman who ran the Chinese takeout place next door had stopped him on his walk home, and pressed a container of pork fried rice into his hands.  From an order they’d messed up, she said, and since they were closing early that day, it’d be a shame to have to dump it.  The girl behind the counter rolled her eyes, but smiled and nodded along when the woman had nudged her with an elbow to agree with her story.  Marco had tried to pay for it, but the woman was almost offended, immediately waving away his wallet and spluttered protests.  There was a spring in his step as he finally got to his apartment, wiggling the key into the lock in the precise way it insisted on, only to find that the door was already unlocked.  Suspicious, Marco tried to peer through the peephole, and saw nothing.  Sighing, and wondering if he’d just left the door unlocked in his frenzy to get to work on time, Marco entered, and nearly dropped his container of rice when he saw a man just standing in his apartment, looking lost.

     The man was leaning against Marco’s counter, absently scraping a stain that Marco had given up trying to scrub out of it.  His lost expression changed when Marco came in, and a frown that seemed perfectly suited for the man’s long face appeared.  His ashy blond hair was shoved back behind a few bobby pins, and his clothes were black, making his skin look milk-white as they clung to his thin frame.  If Marco wasn’t so confused on how he got in, he’d probably be attracted to the man.

      “Uh…” Marco started, edging back towards the door.  He wondered how quickly the police would come when he called - seeing as how the side of town he lived on, police sirens were wailing almost constantly, but he’d never actually seen an officer that wasn’t on their way out of a coffee shop.

      “You have fucking nothing in this place,” The man said, looking around the apartment pityingly.  “I was going to rob you, dude, but man…”  He paused for a minute, thinking, before a determined expression came over his face.  With a nod towards the milk crate, he pushed off of the counter and swept past Marco, patting his shoulder gently.  “Wait here bro, I’ll be right back.”

      With a smirk that was probably an attempt at a non-threatening smile, and a wink, the man disappeared out Marco’s front door, ambling down the apartment’s hall to the stairway as if he knew where he was going.  He probably did know, Marco thought, as he tested the lock with the door slightly open.  The locking mechanism only moved halfway in or out, no matter how much Marco turned it, and he groaned in annoyance at having to add something else to pay for on his list.  Something to take care of on another day, Marco decided, closing the door firmly before trudging over to the kitchen and stabbing the start button on the oven.  He might as well have dinner, if nothing else.

 

* * *

  
     Marco wasn’t sure what time it was when there was a commotion in the hallway.  It was dark outside (but when the sun sets around 4pm, when wasn’t it dark?), and he was a bit chilly, the only indication that it was possibly past midnight.  Marco checked his phone, and yup, it was just a little past one in the morning.  He vaguely wondered if he should poke his head out and ask for whomever his neighbors had invited if they could quiet down.  Even with the noise increasing, Marco’s heavy eyelids tugged him down towards sleep, until there was a loud, rapid knocking on his door.  Cautiously, Marco rose, squinting through the peephole into the brightly lit hallway, a frown on his face as he vaguely recognized the man who was in his apartment earlier.  Still, he didn’t really have anything to lose, and with a shrug, Marco opened the door.

     “Yo, dude, we got you covered, step back,” The man said with a grin, as he hefted up a small wooden table that reached his hip.  Marco did as he was told, flicking on the lights that he rarely used, and squinted up at the burned out bulb in the ceiling.  Following the blond from earlier, was a bulkier blond man hefting half of a mattress, the other end held by the girl Marco recognized from the takeout place earlier.  They maneuvered into the apartment easily, and skinny blond guy kicked Marco’s makeshift bed out of the way, and placed the mattress down.  While Marco had been watching them, a brunet guy with golden skin huffed in, and put down a small TV across from the bed.  He was closely followed by a man with a shaven head, carrying two chairs under his arms, and a brunette girl who cracked her gum as she followed with two more chairs.  A blonde woman in a hoodie hovered just outside the door, with a giraffe of a man.  They didn’t appear to be carrying anything, just observing, but Marco vaguely recognized the blonde from his stats class.  The blond guy from earlier cleared his throat, gaining Marco’s attention easily.

      “So, here you go dude.  Ah, probably should’ve introduced us all before invading,” He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, as the brunette girl hopped up onto Marco’s counter.  The brunet who had brought in the TV exchanged a knowing look with the girl from the takeout place, and leaned forward on his elbows.

      “So, uh...My name’s Jean, these are my friends Sasha, Connie, Eren, Mikasa, Reiner, Annie, and Bertl,”  He pointed out each person as he spoke, and they waved or said hello to Marco as they were indicated.  Bemusedly, Marco waved back, and it was Annie who spoke once Jean apparently had nothing more to say.

     “You’re in my stats class.  Marco, right?”  Annie asked tonelessly.  Jean’s neck snapped in her direction, incredulous.

      “Ah, yeah, that’s me.  Nice to meet you outside of class, Annie.”  He said pleasantly, gesturing for her and Bertl to come inside instead of hovering in the hallway.  Annie shrugged as she strolled in, and Bertl crept behind her.  Annie looked around with an unimpressed look on her face.

     “Jean was right, this place is a bit of a shithole,”  She stated, and Jean spluttered at her for reporting his opinion on the place.  Marco just snickered, as did a majority of the other people present, and shrugged.

     “It was cheap, and it’s right between work and class, so…”  He trailed off with a frown, before mumbling; “I’m sorry I can’t offer you anything to drink, I don’t exactly have cups or anything other than water…”  Sasha looked up from where she had also been scratching at the stain on his counter, looking scandalized.

     “You don’t even have cups?  Jesus.  We’ll be back in a bit, bro, can’t leave you hanging like that!”  She stood sharply, and speed-walked out the door, but not before crushing Marco in a quick hug.  Connie, Reiner, Bertl, and Annie took their leave as well, and suddenly the studio apartment felt a lot bigger than it had two minutes ago.  Eren and Mikasa exchanged another look, and Eren rose from the seat he’d taken for himself at the same time Mikasa pushed off the wall.

     “We’re gonna skedaddle too.  Got work in a few hours, and we should check on ‘min.”  Eren yawned loudly, which set off a chain reaction among the four of them, before Eren hauled himself out the door with Mikasa drifting behind him.  With only Jean in the room, Marco felt a little fidgety.

      “I, uh, might have you a bed frame in a few days, but we’ll see how that goes,” Jean mumbled as he shifted from foot to foot.  He looked sort of uncomfortable, before he stepped forward and tried to meet Marco’s eyes.

      “Like, just so you know...I don’t usually burglarize people I wanna take out on a date, but…”  Jean trailed off, fake confidence making him stand just a bit taller.  Marco blinked at him for a second, before letting his eyes trail over Jean.  He wasn’t bad to look at, and he’d genuinely wanted to help, even getting him furniture...Marco tilted his head, pretending to think it over, as he fished his phone out of his pocket.

      “As long as you aren’t expecting fancy dates or anything.  As you saw, don’t really have money for much,”  Marco joked, surprised by just how delighted Jean looked as he rattled off his number.  Marco texted it immediately, the phone that Jean apparently stuffed into his back pocket buzzing loudly.  It was around then that Jean apparently realized what time it was, and mumbled about having to get back home so his mom wouldn’t worry.  He assured Marco that he’d come by tomorrow, and drop off the cups that Sasha was undoubtedly picking up.  With a quiet good night, Marco was alone in his newly furnished apartment, and he sprawled out along his new mattress without a care in the world, sinking back into sleep almost instantaneously.


End file.
